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There is documentary evidence of there being a mill at Muncaster going back to 1455, fed from a weir on the river Mite over a mile up the river. Rather than have a “top pond” the water is stored in the long leat which feeds a simple overshot water wheel powering 3 sets of stones, although in recent times only the left set of stones was used for flour.

The derelect mill was purchased in the 1970s by Lake District Estates – the parent company of the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway – to be restored as a track side attraction. The millers (who leased it) then supplied organic stoneground flour (assorted wholemeal, white, brown, semolina and bran) and provided tours of the mill. It also featured in the Thomas the Tank Engine book (see illustration below).

Thanks go to Dave Priestley, son of Ernie the last miller (pictured below), for the notes and the photos. They were taken in the late 1990s at low resolution and relatively small image size.

Backed up leat – prior to milling

Belt drive power take offs – to power other machinery

Central stone drive shaft with pit wheel behind

Close up of water wheel when milling

‘Clutch’ of central stone drive shaft

Down train approaching mill

Drive shaft entering below the mill stones

Outflow entering the River Mite – protected against tidal backflow by a loose ‘flap’

Ernie Priestley – the last miller of Muncaster

Fire hole for the drying room

Flour chute on the left stone set – the primary stones used in the mill

The surviving structures of Backbarrow Ironworks in South Lakeland have been described by Historic England as “the best illustration nationally of iron-smelting technology development from the early C18 to the C20”. The site has featured on the Heritage at Risk register for many years, and there have been a number of previous attempts to “save” it without success. Until now that is.

Under the supervision of Historic England work is underway to conserve the remains of the scheduled ancient monument – which include the furnace stack, hot air stoves and blowing engine – alongside work to develop the rest of the site for housing. Potentially dangerous sections have been fenced so, for example, no-one can wander inside the furnace stack.

The Backbarrow Ironworks Heritage Trust has been established to take over responsibility for the ironworks once development of the whole site is complete in 2019. Until then there is no public access to it. These photos have been taken by members of the Trust.

All these photos were taken by Mike Davies-Shiel between 1969 and 1971, except that of the Tweed Mill being demolished c.1916.

To find out more about these mills and others in Cockermouth look out for The Watermills of Cockermouth leaflet, the Cockermouth Mill Trail, and the two booklets on Industry in the series Cockermouth in Pictures by Bernard Bradbury.

The North of England Civic Trust plan to conserve and repair the building and bring it back to life as a working mill. These photos were taken in July 2016 before the work began in earnest, except for emergency repairs to the drying kiln.

The Derwent Haematite Iron Co. cast pig iron in Workington for the first time in 1874, but was soon joined by the Dronfield Ironworks who re-located their steel making plant from near Sheffield. The combined plant was re-named Charles Cammell & Co. – Derwent Iron and Steel Works until 1903 when a merger of the parent company with Laird Brothers resulted in Cammell Laird and Co.,,

Most of these photos date from the early 1900s, except for the aerial views which date from the 1930s, and the drawing which is dated 1882.

Click here to find out more about the iron and steel industry in Cumbria.